


The Less I Know The Better

by Annabel_Eyre



Series: At the Common Room [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drinking, F/M, Marauders' Era, Romance, Sexual Tension, moment of clarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 09:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12208512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annabel_Eyre/pseuds/Annabel_Eyre
Summary: Lily and Severus go to a party and run through the corridors late at night. What could go wrong?





	The Less I Know The Better

Severus sat down on the only empty couch in the room. He stretched his arms and took a sip of his drink. He felt oddly relaxed. From his experience parties made him feel at best claustrophobic. But tonight was different, maybe because Lily was there, or maybe because someone had sneaked some firewhiskey and he had drunk a good amount of it. 

He also didn't expect Ravenclaws to be able to throw a good party, but it was alright. They charmed the candles so the fire burned blue, it made the room dark but also gave a heavy atmosphere to it. Some people were smoking and the relatively small room looked foggy. They were playing muggle songs rather loudly for his taste, and most people were now dancing in the middle of the common room. When he looked for Lily he saw that she had joined them. She had convinced him to go there in the first place, she’d insisted that he had to go with her, because she wanted to go to a party for a while and it would be the only place where no one would care that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin were friends. He had trouble saying no to anything she'd ask him to do. He would go anywhere she’d go.

Lily had obviously been drinking as well, or she wouldn't be dancing the way she was. She was swaying her hips from side to side to the beat of the song, her skirt swinging with her moves. Her hands went up and she started running her fingers through her hair. Severus felt his pulse race and swallowed hard. It was the drink that made him bold enough to stare at her so unabashedly, he told himself. He noticed she had caught the attention of others and he wasn't the only one staring. A boy who was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, who was just watching at first, started walking in her direction. He was tall and handsome, Severus didn't know his name, only knew he was in seventh year. He started dancing near her, and Severus knew this moment like the back of his hands, jealousy flooding him, making him feel cold all over, his stomach twisting, feigned indifference, all while his brain tells him he's overreacting.

Lily was dancing with her eyes closed, so she didn't notice him when the boy started getting closer and closer to her side. Severus realized that this bloke seemed like he was actually drunk and overstepping his boundaries, way too close, too intimate for someone he didn’t even know. Severus was about to get up to interfere when Lily turned around and noticed him. She frowned and took two steps away from him. Thankfully he seemed to get the hint and left her alone, although he looked angry.

She looked around the room and spotted Severus sitting still frozen mid-rising from his seat. She smiled and walked towards him.

“Hey,” Lily said loud enough to be heard despite the ear-piercing music.

Severus raised his drink in acknowledgment and gave her what she called  _ his smug look _ . He was surprised when she grabbed his cup and places it in the seat next to him.

“I wasn't finished…“ She interrupted him by grabbing his extended arm that was previously holding his drink and pulling him towards her. Severus yelped and stumbled. Once he balanced himself, Lily threw her arms over his shoulders and started to dance. He felt giddy because of her closeness. Her happiness rubbed off on him. And the drinking helped. He put his arms around her, and after a few seconds, he asked with an amused voice.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yes. I needed this.” She said, then spoke closer to his ear. “Music too loud though.” She hid her head in his chest, as if to shield herself from the music. Suddenly everything in the room started to bother him. Too many people crowded in the same place. To much smoke. Too much noise.

“Let’s get out of here.” He said without thinking. Where would they go? He had no idea. But it seemed she liked the idea. He felt her nod against his chest. She lifted her head and smiled at him in a way he hadn’t seen before. Almost like she was daring him to do something. Do what?

He grabbed her hand and they practically ran out of the common room. Lily was laughing behind him, then when they reached the corridor she put her finger in her mouth and made a shushing sound. They ran through the deserted corridor. It didn’t seem like it was the same place he was that morning on his way to class. It was dark and empty, but it seemed more alive than ever, her hand on his, while they ran from nothing to nowhere in particular.

They made a turn and suddenly he heard steps coming in their direction. Lily heard a few moments later “Shit.” She put her hands on her mouth to stifle a laugh. There was no time to run back, the steps, whoever it was, was getting closer to them.

He pulled her hand and pushed her behind a pillar in a dark corner. They stayed there, Lily still covering her mouth as if letting go would ruin their cover. After a while the steps faded away, Severus sighed and rested his forehead against the cold stone wall, his head close to hers. Lily was between him and the wall, his hands bracing him, in either side of her. They were very close together, which he noticed when he felt her body tremble as she giggled. 

He was still, catching his breath, and was just about to pull away to let her leave when he felt a hand ghosting at his waist. He froze, even held his breath, thinking he imagined. But no, Lily’s hand were at his side, right above his hipbone, holding him in place, as if telling him to stay put.

She momentarily let go of him to drop her hands lower, and borrow her way inside his shirt, resting in the same place as before. But it was skin to skin, the meaning completly different. The shock of her bare touch made him tremble. In response her body pressed closer to him and he felt her lips brush against his exposed neck, hesitant at first, then firm kisses along his skin, one behind his ear, another lower.

Severus was embarrassed to admit to the low series of sounds that escaped his mouth. His hand went down and rested on her hips. Her skirt had hitched up and he met bare skin. That seemed to flip a switch inside his head, and he thought, this is really happening, Lily is here, and this is happening. He pressed her against the wall and went to kiss her neck. He met hair at first, then her  throat. He kissed, open mouth kisses, tasting her. He kissed her behind her ear, which made her make similar sounds he had made, the side of her neck, her collarbone. She scratched his back. His mind felt foggy, he was working his way up to kiss her mouth, to finally kiss her when he thought, 

my first kiss with Lily will be on a  deserted corridor late at night while we are drunk. 

Drunk. He stopped himself, the wrongness of what they were doing dawned on him. He thought a million things in one second. He didn’t want this. He had wanted this for years, but never like this. And did she really want this? He wouldn’t take advantage of her.

He took a step back, she whimpered and looked at him with a confused expression.

“If you…” His voice sounded hoarse, even for him. He cleared his throat, biting time to find the courage to say what he was about to say.“If you still want this when you are sober, you know where to find me.” She looked even more confused now. “And if you don’t, then pretend it never happened.”

He couldn’t think of what that moment would mean for their friendship in the future, couldn’t think about tomorrow, or he would be crushed by desperation and hope at the same time. Anxiety seized him and in an impulse driven by the intensity of what he felt for her, he kissed her forehead. Somehow that kiss had meant more than the ones before.

She smiled and they walked together, he left her by the staircase in front of her common room. He went to bed with a heavy heart, and somehow, despite all that had happened that night, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Why sleep when you can write fanfic?


End file.
